CU Responds to Strike Demands

Protesters rebuffed an attempt by administrators to reach out to the hunger strikers Monday night as the demonstrations closed in on the end of their first week.

For the first time on Monday, administrators held a meeting about the substance of the hunger strikers’ protest. The strikers articulate demands that participants say have existed for years, including diversification of the Core Curriculum and an expansion of ethnic studies and multicultural resources.

In a statement to the hunger strikers, later released publicly, Austin Quigley, dean of Columbia College, and Nicholas Dirks, vice president for Arts and Sciences, directly addressed the strikers’ demands. The statement primarily touted efforts that the University was already making in areas of concern to the striking students, such as citing $20 million in investments currently being made in the Center for the Study of Ethnicity and Race as a result of meetings with students that have taken place since the spring.

In the statement and elsewhere, administrators stressed their desire to see a quick end to the strike. “I certainly don’t want these meeting to drag on with long intervals between them, because we have students out there who are starving themselves,” Provost Alan Brinkley said.

Strikers reacted coolly to the meetings. While noting that the statement marked “advancements ... that address critical issues of critical reforms,” Ryan Fukumori, CC ’09 and a negotiator for the hunger strikers, said, “Basically, they haven’t conceded anything yet.” He added, “They argue that things need to be prolonged when the very fact is that people are starving on South Lawn.”

In response to student demands for 12 new professors in both the Center for the Study of Ethnicity and Race and the Institute for Research in African American Studies over the next several years, Quigley and Dirks stated that the University was pursuing three faculty hires in CSER and one in IRAAS.

Regarding proposed changes to the Core Curriculum, administrators invited negotiators to attend Tuesday’s meeting of the Committee on the Core but stressed that “the faculty are in charge of the academic curriculum.”

Strikers have also demanded an expansion of the Office of Multicultural Affairs. The University has hired an outside consulting firm to conduct “a review of OMA and its services” in which “a wide range of student voices” will be incorporated.

“The administration’s offers echoed conciliatory language of past negotiations that often failed to resolve the crux of students’ grievances,” representatives for the ad-hoc coalition of which the hunger strikers are a part said in a statement last night. “Students will continue to meet daily with administrators until a compromise on the demands is reached.”

Students raised concerns Monday night about a lack of transparency surrounding their negotiations with administrators.

“It [the strike] shows a failure on the part of the administration to allow legit, accommodating avenues of student voices,” said Jamie Chen, CC ’09 and a publicity official for the hunger strikers. While strikers proposed that the meeting be public, administrators required a private meeting, which was open only to select student leaders and a small number of other observers.

“We feel like we’ve been jerked around. We want to make this as transparent as possible,” Julie Schneyer, BC ’08 and a public-relations official for the hunger strikers, said.

Among those present at the meeting, which dealt with the administrative and curricular demands of the coalition, were Dirks, Quigley, Dean of Student Affairs Chris Colombo, and Ajay Nair, head of the Office of Multicultural Affairs. Strike negotiators then held a separate meeting with Executive Vice President for Government & Community Affairs Maxine Griffith on the Manhattanville expansion, which was also declared off the record.

The meeting concerning the Manhattanville expansion was particularly frustrating, Chen said. “She [Griffith] didn’t seem to think that we had any reason to talk together,” she said. “She seemed to dismiss what we were talking about.”

According to Chen, Griffith argued that the Uniform Land Use Review Procedure, the official city procedure required for rezoning, is a democratic process, adding that Community Board 9 is a nonbinding board, and that only the City Council has the legal power to reject Columbia’s expansion plans . The hunger strikers’ coalition has demanded that Columbia revoke its 197-c plan until it meets community approval.

“You can’t deny that Community Board 9 voted against Columbia’s plan 32-2,” Chen added.

Senior Executive Vice President Robert Kasdin, Dirks, Quigley, and Griffith did not return numerous calls and e-mails for comment.

A written statement by university spokesperson LaVerna Fountain said: “University officials have been more than willing to meet with the strikers on a timely and regular basis to hear and respond to their concerns. ... Administrators will continue to meet with the students in hopes of ending the hunger strike.”

STRIKERS CONFRONT BOLLINGER

Earlier in the day, protesters approached University President Lee Bollinger to personally state their disapproval of his conduct. Victoria Ruiz CC ’09, one of the strikers, met Bollinger outside his classroom in Schermerhorn, and a few strike supporters handed Bollinger two dozen balloons inscribed with messages calling for the Columbia administration to address the demands. “PrezBo, you should think about leaving,” stated one.

Bollinger thanked the students quietly and walked slowly to his home, flanked by security personnel and the small group of protestors.

“A university president shouldn’t need security guards to walk around his own campus,” one protestor called out.

“I really understand the desire of our students to have an effect on the administration,” Bollinger said of the strikers. “Our team is ready.”

Outside the 117th Street gates, Bollinger attempted to hand off the balloons to a passer-by, who took half of them.

The protestors said they were unhappy because of the short-term cancellation of two meetings between the administration and the hunger strikers last night.

Upon reaching his home, Bollinger shook the hands of the protestors and carried the remaining balloons into his compound. “This is the first of many things he will be receiving,” Ruiz said.

STUDENT GROUPS REACT

In light of the protest, General Studies Student Council President Niko Cunningham said the board will pass a resolution in its meeting Tuesday advocating for General Studies’ inclusion in the Office of Multicultural Affairs. Currently, each GS student who desires access to OMA must be approved individually by administrators in the Office of Student Affairs and GS. “It’s just a question of making it unanimous,” Cunningham said.

The Columbia College Student Council also debated the hunger strikers’ demands at its meeting Sunday night, expressing support for most of their concerns in a statement released Monday night.

A one-day fast will take place Wednesday in support of the hunger strikers, and participants will be wearing “Ask ME Why I’m Fasting Today” shirts to promote awareness. The Student Coalition on Expansion and Gentrification is planning a “dorm-storming” event for Tuesday night, in which strike supporters donned in black will distribute fliers describing the strikers’ demands.

The Columbia University College Democrats, Take Back the Night, and the International Socialist Organization also issued statements of support Monday.